Schools and learning

The Three Roles of a governing body

A governing body's three roles are:

• To be strategic
• To act as a critical friend
• To be accountable

Strategic Role

To be strategic, governors need to:

• ensure that the school has clear aims and values that are supported by the whole school community
• ensure that these are evident in the day to day operation of the school
• focus on raising standards of achievement, establishing high expectations and promoting effective teaching and learning, so that pupils achieve to their potential
• decide with the head, staff, pupils and parents the direction of the school through the school development planning process
• ensure that the resources the school receives are directed to the school's priorities as determined in the school development plan
• help to set and keep under review the policies that provide a broad framework within which the head teacher and staff should run the school
• ensure that there are systems in place to check that progress is being made towards targets and that evidence is gathered
• use that evidence to review overall progress against targets, to see whether policies and practice are effective, and to check on their school’s achievements and progress over time and in comparison with similar schools
• take advice on all of this from the head before making their own decisions.

The governing body should be one of the key players in the school improvement planning process. Governors should be involved in the review of the current plan and the drawing up of the priorities for the coming year. Detailed plans are normally drawn up by the headteacher and staff. Committees of the governing body can draw up detailed plans for their area, for example premises development. Through this process the governing body can be clear about the direction of the school, the allocation of resources and the monitoring processes that will help ensure that plans are implemented and effective.

Critical Friend Role

In this role, the governing body

• recognises and celebrates the achievements of the school
• knows where the school is not achieving as well as it could
• provides support and encouragement when strategies to bring about improvement are being explored
• strikes an appropriate balance between support and challenge.

The role involves monitoring and evaluating how the school is progressing. Governors need to build a trusting relationship with the headteacher and staff in order to achieve this.

Note: It is not the role of governors to make judgements about teachers; however, it is the governors’ role to ensure that monitoring of teaching takes place and the necessary actions are taken to develop and support the quality of teaching.

Accountability Role

To be accountable governors:

• are required to conduct the school with a view to promoting high standards of educational achievement
• have the right to discuss, question and refine proposals and should respect the professional roles of the head teacher and other staff, and their responsibilities for the management of the school
• must be prepared to account for the school ’s overall performance and to explain its decisions and actions to anyone who has a legitimate interest.

The governing body will need to account to the whole school community for the performance of the school. The School Profile, which is posted on the internet, enables parents and others to know how the school is performing. The governors must ensure that the prospectus is up to date and available to all.